[Water_news] 2. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: SUPPLY - 9/24/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment 

 

September 24, 2008

 

2. Supply –

 

 

Water savings won't be enough: Supply crisis continues despite a 10-year low in usage.

Contra Costa Times- 3/23/08

 

California legislation would measure how much water is bottled

The San Francisco Chronicle- 9/24/08

 

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Water savings won't be enough: Supply crisis continues despite a 10-year low in usage.

Contra Costa Times- 3/23/08

By Kristopher Hanson, Staff Writer

 

Aggressive conservation has slashed water consumption in Long Beach by 1.6 billion gallons in the past year, dropping usage to a 10-year low, officials said Tuesday.

 

Yet despite the success, further conservation efforts are needed to offset rising water rates and a steep decline in water supplies from a key Northern California source, experts say.

 

"We need people to understand that we no longer have enough water going forward to even meet normal demand," said Ryan Alsop, government and public affairs director for the Long Beach Water Department.

 

"There needs to be a paradigm shift in our relationship with water ... not only in Long Beach, but everywhere in the region."

 

The city and region's looming dilemma - brought about by years of drought, a growing population and dwindling supply - was the subject of much debate among a few dozen of the state's top water management experts in Long Beach on Tuesday.

 

The group met at a conference hosted by the Aquarium of the Pacific titled "Priming the Pump."

 

Southern California's longtime dependence on outside water supplies has grown increasingly unpredictable since an August 2007 federal court ruling cut water imports by 30 percent to 18 million people in the lower half of the state.

 

The ruling requires agencies to stop pumping water from a large swath of the San Joaquin Delta between December and June of each year to protect endangered fish species.

 

Before the ruling, about 30percent of Long Beach's total water supply came from the delta, Alsop said.

 

Within weeks of the ruling, the city embarked on an aggressive - and sometimes quirky - campaign to promote water conservation among homes, businesses and government agencies.

 

By early 2008, water consumption had dropped dramatically, easing the city's sudden water deficit and helping keep costs down as authorities searched for alternate supplies.

 

"Our (campaign) goal is to make wasting water as socially unacceptable as lighting up a cigarette in a crowded room full of people," Alsop said. "It's been working so far, and I think it's put Long Beach way ahead of most every other city in the region, where conservation efforts have not been a big priority."

 

Alsop said that although the water department increased water and sewer rates 15.8 percent beginning Oct. 1, further conservation will help minimize future rate hikes.

 

"We purchase water on a (tiered rate), so the less we buy from wholesale agencies like (Metropolitan Water District), the less we pay per acre-foot," Alsop said.

 

An acre-foot of water equals 325,000 gallons. The average person uses about 37,000 gallons annually.

 

Charles Keine, an executive with the California Department of Water Resources, said state and local agencies need to improve water storage capabilities and repair or rebuild an ailing network of dams, levees and pipelines connecting the city's water sources to its cities and farms.

 

And Long Beach was praised for its research into seawater desalination, a process by which ocean water is converted into clean drinking water.

 

The city is currently working with the federal government to test new filtration and delivery systems at an East Long Beach site that may eventually produce 300,000 gallons each day.

 

"Desalination taps into an inexhaustible supply of water and is a proven technology," Keine said.

 

He argued that high costs associated with desalination, which have prevented widespread investment to date, should decline 10-15 percent in coming years.#

http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_10542915?nclick_check=1

 

 

 

California legislation would measure how much water is bottled

The San Francisco Chronicle- 9/24/08

By Felipe Fuentes and Mark Schlosberg

 

How much of California's water is bottled? Legislation would let the public know.

 

California is in the midst of a drought and could be on the verge of a water crisis. The past spring was among the driest on record and experts are predicting that this upcoming winter season will be similarly dry. There have been various proposals offered to address this situation ranging from dams, canals, conservation and underground storage. While some of these proposals are highly controversial, the state should also take basic steps to understand how and where our water is being used.

 

Assembly Bill 2275 is a step in that direction. The legislation requires public disclosure of the source and volume of California's water that is bottled every year. This information is crucial to help policymakers make responsible decisions about the ways in which our most precious resource should be allocated.

 

There are more than 100 bottled-water facilities operating in California. While each of these facilities report the amount of water extracted from groundwater sources to the state Department of Public Health, this information is neither compiled nor made available to local and state decision-makers who are responsible for water planning. This bill would allow them to have access to that information. The State Water Board, who is doing a full inventory of its water rights, is making a similar effort.

 

AB2275 is needed for Californians to ensure that the state's water is responsibly allocated in ways that protect our environment, economy and our quality of life. The Department of Public Health estimates that more than 1 billion gallons of bottled water are sold in California each year, and it is unknown how much of the state's water is exported in plastic bottles.

 

This specialty industry also pollutes our environment in several ways. First, bottled water contributes to global warming from the oil processed to create plastic bottles and truck them around the state. And most of those plastic bottles are not recycled and end up in our landfills.

 

Bottled water facilities near Mount Shasta have divided local communities who are concerned about corporations such as Nestle, which owns Arrowhead Water, abusing their water resources. Finally, bottled water is rarely tested and is often just filtered tap water, although it can be a thousand times more expensive.

 

Because of this, the California Legislature overwhelmingly passed AB2275 and the bill now awaits Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's signature. The bill is consistent with the governor's goals of making our water allocation as efficient and responsible as possible. While we may disagree on other solutions, we should all agree that more information about the way our water is used is a good thing.

 

Felipe Fuentes represents portions of Los Angeles in the state Assembly (39th district). Mark Schlosberg is the California director of Food & Water Watch, www.foodandwaterwatch.org.#

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/23/ED1U133LLP.DTL